jueves, 30 de abril de 2015

We in the West have lived with this thing called ‘democracy’ for a
good few centuries now. It has been an important experiment, but one
which has, in the end, succeeded in swallowing its own tail rather than
leading society to a better place. Now its time is up and we have the
task of putting something genuinely better in its place.

The most well known definition of democracy – but by no means the
first – is enshrined in the Gettysburg Address of November 1863. It
proclaims democracy as ‘government of the people, by the people, for the
people’ which – maybe for good reason – laid a strong emphasis on
‘people’.

But here also lay its weakness; people (it turned out) had other
ambitions that this form of self rule was ill equipped to address. Nor
did they particularly want to be responsible for deciding and managing
the intricacies of the experiment that they had signed-up to. ‘The
majority’, that is.

And it is this word ‘majority’ which encapsulates the failure of
democracy, because, as some of us will have noticed, ‘the majority’ have
never yet been possessed of the vision and wisdom necessary to move
society towards a meritorious goal.

Women fighters at a Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant base on
Mount Sinjar in northwest Iraq, just like their male counterparts, have
to be ready for action at any time. Smoke from the front line, marking
their battle against Islamic State, which launched an assault on
northern Iraq last summer, is visible from the base.

Reuters photographer Asmaa Waguih spent time with the women who have taken up arms.

There is no sign of an end to the erosion of Constitutional liberties
that began under George W. Bush after the 9/11 attacks and continues
under Barack Obama, a group of seven national security whistleblowers
said Monday.

“The government chose in great secrecy to unchain itself,” said
Thomas Drake, who was working at the National Security Agency in 2001
and said he saw lawlessness spread under the name of “exigent
conditions” during the Bush presidency.

Then, as part of Obama’s war on whistleblowers, prosecutors
charged Drake under the Espionage Act – a law intended to brutally
punish spies – for talking to a reporter. After a four-year long ordeal
that the federal judge in his case called “unconscionable,” all 10
felony charges against Drake were dropped in return for his guilty plea
to a single misdemeanor.

Now, Drake said, he is throwing his weight behind H.R. 1466, the Surveillance State Repeal Act.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Rendition Project
compiled this information from the US Senate intelligence committee's
summary report on CIA detention and torture, from documents relating to
military detention in Bagram and Guantánamo Bay, and from media and NGO
reports.

Oppose the Canadian Government’s Threat to Criminalize Criticism of Israel

Independent Jewish Voices – Canada (IJV) approached dozens of labour, civil rights, student and community-based organizations from across the country to endorse a statement defending the right of Canadians to freely criticize the State of Israel and employ the tactic of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) as a legitimate form of protest. The statement, entitled “Oppose the Canadian government’s threat to criminalize criticism of Israel”, condemns the Canadian government’s repeated assaults on the right to freedom of expression regarding this issue.

As of April 14, the statement has 75 organizational endorsements, including from the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, La Ligue des Droits et Libertés, the Green Party of Canada, Québec Solidaire, the National Union of Public and General Employees, and the Confédération des syndicats nationaux. For a full list of organizational endorsements, click here.

The Canadian Labour Congress, with the endorsement of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the National Union of Public and General Employees, and Unifor, has written their own statement that echoes the concerns of the IJV-initiated statement, which you can read here. The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association has also issued a similar statement, which you can read here.

American media outlets are showing a growing concern over the influence
of foreign media outlets, particularly the Russian media. However, in an
exclusive interview, professor and philosopher Noam Chomsky says that
America’s media machine has been spreading its own form of propaganda
throughout the world, while at the same time refusing to acknowledge its
own culpability in international conflicts. He tells Alexey Yaroshevsky
more about the US manipulation of information and its effect on
democracy.

Arrests come after hundreds of people gathered in New York's Union
Square to rally against Freddie Gray's death and in support of those in
Baltimore. Police are charging many of the protesters with disorderly
conduct. READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/ef2wwi -

One year ago who could have foreseen that opposition to mega murky free trade agreements would see the birth of a global movement; mobilising tens of thousands of people onto the streets around the world? Well that's what happened first on 11 October 2014 and again just now on 18 April 2015!

From places as diverse as Hawaii to Argentina, the USA, Europe, Senegal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Japan, Korea and even Fiji, citizens in 46 countries or across 5 continents expressed a vehement, creative and insisting no to TPP, TTIP, CETA and their siblings.

In Europe alone tens of thousands of people marched in Madrid, Munich, Paris, Vienna and many other cities. Globally 734 actions were organized and roughly 650 of them took place in Europe. Compared to the global day of action in October, the number of events increased, as did the number of participating countries.

On 18 April citizens and volunteers collected thousands of signatures for the Stop TTIP ECI. Between 8-10 June the European parliament will vote on a TTIP-resolution and it would be both; great and important if we could reach our target of two million signatures by the time of the vote.

Wrestling with his fear about Googling the composition of a carbon dioxide bomb after hearing of a failed bombing at LAX, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
journalist, Peter Galison highlights one of the threats of mass
surveillance to journalistic practice, “The knowledge that I might be
walking into a security word search had been enough to make me
hesitate.”

Following Edward Snowden’s leaks outlining the capabilities of
intelligence agencies around the world to monitor, track and collate
private online communications this moment of hesitation before tackling a
story has become a major concern to journalists globally.

Pen International surveyed 772 fiction and non-fiction writers and
found out that more than 1 in 3 writers in so-called free countries
(34%) said they had avoided writing or speaking on a particular topic
following the NSA revelations.

While Ryan Gallagher of The Intercept states “self-censorship is never the only available option” he acknowledges that his practices have changed:

“In the post-Snowden environment I definitely use encryption tools
much more to communicate with people, mainly because more of my
colleagues and contacts have now adopted these tools. It’s no longer a
niche thing…the Snowden revelations were a big wake-up call for people.”

Encryption and anonymity software
have emerged as the primary set of tools available to journalists to
protect themselves, their stories and their sources. Indeed in the light
of the leaked information, they have taken on added significance; the
ability to depend on robust communication security may be the difference
between coverage and self-censorship.

Recently, France
decided to crack down on those people who make cash payments and
withdrawals and who hold small bank accounts. The reason given was, not
surprisingly, to “fight terrorism,” the handy catchall justification
for any new restriction governments wish to impose on their citizens.
French Finance Minister Michel Sapin stated at the time, “[T]errorism
feeds on fraud, money laundering, and petty trafficking.”

And so, in future, people in France will not be allowed to make cash
payments exceeding €1,000 (down from €3,000). Additionally, cash
deposits and withdrawals totaling more than €10,000 per month will be
reported to Tracfin—an anti-fraud and money laundering agency.

Currency exchange will also be further restricted. Anyone changing over
€1,000 to another currency (down from €8,000) will be required to show
an identity card.

Do you need to make a deposit on a car? That might be suspect. Did you
just deposit a dividend you received? It might be a payment from a
terrorist organisation. Planning a holiday and need some cash? You might
need to be investigated for terrorism.

Once upon a time, the famous criminal Willie Sutton
was asked why he robbed banks, and his response was simple, eloquent,
and humorous: “Because that’s where the money is.” Well, soon that adage
may be proven untrue. What exactly is the meaning of legal tender? In
order to place money in its proper perspective, examine what the U.S. Treasury says.

The pertinent portion of law that applies to
your question is the Coinage Act of 1965, specifically Section 31 U.S.C.
5103, entitled "Legal tender," which states: "United States coins and
currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of
Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all
debts, public charges, taxes, and dues.

Remember that scene in Minority Report, where Tom Cruise is on the run from the law, but is unable to avoid detection because everywhere he goes there are constant retina scans feeding his location back to a central database? That’s tomorrow. Today, Google is tracking wherever your smartphone goes, and putting a neat red dot on a map to mark the occasion.

You can find that map here. All you need to do is log in with the same account you use on your phone, and the record of everywhere you’ve been for the last day to month will erupt across your screen like chicken pox.

We all know that no matter what ‘privacy’ settings you may try and implement, our information is all being collected and stored somewhere. That knowledge sits in the back of our minds, and is easy to drown out by shoving in some headphones and watching Adventure Time on repeat until everything stops being 1984. But it’s a sharp jolt back to reality when you see a two dimensional image marking your daily commute with occasional detours to the cinema or a friend’s house.

Extreme heatwaves and heavy rain storms are already happening with increasing regularity worldwide because of manmade climate change, according to new research.

Global warming over the last century means heat extremes that previously only occurred once every 1,000 days are happening four to five times more often, the study published in Nature Climate Change said.

It found that one in five extreme rain events experienced globally are a result of the 0.85C global rise in temperatre since the Industrial Revolution, as power plants, factories and cars continue to pump out greenhouse gas emissions.

“A lot of us and our colleagues were surprised by how high these numbers are already now in the present day climate,” said Dr Erich Markus Fischer from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

Cars are left stranded among trees following the overnight flash floods
in Grabels near Montpellier, France in 2014. Photograph: Sylvain
Thomas/AFP/Getty Images

Updated | Israel was responsible for the deaths of dozens of civilians at United Nations-run schools during the war in Gaza last summer, according to the summary of a U.N. report released Monday.

In seven incidents of shelling and bombing, the report said, the Israeli military killed 44 Palestinians and injured 227 others at U.N. locations that were being used as emergency shelters.

“Once again, I must stress my profound and continuing concern for the civilian population of the Gaza Strip and Israel, and their right to live in peace and security, free from the threat of violence of terrorism,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrote in a cover letter for the summary of the report

A
Palestinian boy looks through a sheet covering the remains of his
family’s damaged house in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, on
March 31, 2015. Mohammed Salem/Reuters

Summary

The FYF Post-trauma Center will open in mid-2015.
International post-trauma specialists, working in coordination with the
FYF team, will provide treatment to Yezidi women and girls who have
escaped from ISIS. These girls suffered from unspeakable trauma and are
in urgent need of psychological assistance. FYF, founded and operated by
young Yezidi activists, will ensure that the Center provides treatment
to those most in need.

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

In 2014 ISIS terrorists invaded various parts of Iraq,
killing untold numbers of civilians. In August 2014, ISIS invaded the
city of Sinjar and surrounding areas, home to a religious minority
population, the Yezidis. The terrorists killed the men and captured the
women and girls, forcing them into abhorrent sexual slavery. Some girls
managed to escape or were rescued through third parties. These women and
girls are in desperate need of post-trauma psychological assistance.

How will this project solve this problem?

The Free Yezidi Foundation Post-trauma Center will
operate in coordination with a leading network of international
post-trauma specialists to provide treatment to as many women and girls
as possible. The Foundation will also house post-trauma training so that
local practitioners can provide assistance, to the extent possible. The
Foundation will establish its Center in Duhok in mid-2015.

Potential Long Term Impact

The trauma that has been inflicted upon these women and
girls is beyond description. The Post-trauma Center will deal with the
short and long term effects of this trauma. With the assistance of
post-trauma specialists, these women and girls will hopefully be able to
rebuild their shattered lives. In addition, the Center will provide
treatment to other members of the community, as outlined in the Free
Yezidi Foundation's other project, the Children's Center, operated at
the same facility.

Baltimore youth raised the stakes in the struggle against police brutality on April 27 when they set off the largest urban rebellion in the recent period. Since Aug. 9, 2014, with the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the mood of militancy and mass action has accelerated throughout the United States.

In response to the demonstrations and rebellion, Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan has declared a “state of emergency” announcing the deployment of National Guard troops ostensibly to restore order. A curfew between 10:00pm and 5:00am was slated to go into effect on the evening of April 28.

Gov. Hogan in a press conference during the evening of April 27 in Baltimore said that he was moving his office and cabinet to the city to deal with the crisis and that he should have been called earlier by African American Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Such a statement and move was tantamount to a state takeover of local operations involving the crisis in the city.

Congress: Let Section 215 Die

Congress hastily passed the Patriot Act after 9/11 with virtually no
debate, giving the government unprecedented powers to spy on innocent
people.

The Patriot Act authorized some of the most abusive and invasive surveillance programs our country has known.

Thankfully, an automatic expiration date was built in to some
provisions of the law, to force Congress to have to periodically
reconsider them, and prevent them from becoming permanent.

Three provisions of the Patriot Act are set to expire on June 1. That
includes Section 215, under which the NSA collects records all of our
phone calls every day, giving the government a detailed picture of our
lives and relationships.

This program is unconstitutional and ineffective, yet Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell just proposed reauthorizing it, and extending it
for another five years.

For the government to have such easy access to so much information
about your private life is an abuse of power, plain and simple, and has
nothing to do with national security.

It’s a question that, just a few years ago, would be considered
absurd. But as we have seen revolutionary developments in the search for
truth regarding Monsanto’s gloyphosate-based Roundup herbicide over
these past few months, we can now truly ask the question: will Monsanto’s best selling chemical stew finally be banned by the United States and around the world?

And thanks to a number of major studies, news campaigns, and
announcements by leading scientists, the answer may very well be ‘yes.’

It was an arm of the World Health Organization (WHO) that ultimately
drove the reality of Roundup’s deadly nature to the mainstream spotlight
following the recent declaration
by the scientific group that Roundup was indeed likely to be causing
cancer. More specifically, the France-based WHO cancer research division
known as the IARC launched a sweeping blow to Monsanto in their latest
research findings.

We’ll get to those findings in a moment, but first we must consider
the most amazing part of the work: the IARC wasn’t even intending to
‘demonize’ Monsanto’s Roundup. They were independently investigating
five different herbicide and insecticides, with gloyphosate-based
Roundup in the mix.

“In March, 2015, 17 experts from 11 countries met at
the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC; Lyon, France) to
assess the carcinogenicity of the organophosphate pesticides
tetrachlorvinphos, parathion, malathion, diazinon, and glyphosate
(table). These assessments will be published as volume 112 of the IARC
Monographs.”

More and more individuals are becoming aware of Monsanto’s evils,
especially concerning it’s best-selling herbicide Round Up and its
carcinogenic ingredient glyphosate. But we’re just learning
about the registration of said chemicals in the form of GM crops as
antibiotics. And we’re just learning how these chemicals are fueling the
ever-expanding issue of antibiotic resistance.

Propaganda-spewing sites like GMO Answers try to tell us that the overuse of antibiotics in the only cause of super bugs, and that glyphosate has nothing to with this epic problem:

“The overuse of antibiotics in humans and the
intensive use in hospital settings is a major problem, but use of
antibiotics in agriculture can sometimes result in the selection of
antibiotic-resistant organisms, and these organisms may then cause
problems in the form of resistant human infections.

This matters only if a chemical (or a close relative with cross-resistance) is use in both
clinical medicine and agriculture. Because glyphosate is not used in
clinical medicine (and has no relatives used in medicine, either), the
use of glyphosate in agriculture has nothing to do with resistance to
antibiotics used in human medicine.”

In
efforts to demonize Russia, the history of the Western World is being
distastefully rewritten. The monumental sacrifices of the Russian people
during World War II are not only being marginalized, but flipped upon
their heads. Today, reading through the Western media, one will find a
multitude of comparisons between Russia and Nazi Germany, with Russian
President Vladimir Putin compared with Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

Beyond distasteful, this propaganda is
dangerous to the point where it borders on exonerating the Nazis, even
celebrating their acts of aggression and bolstering those monkeying
their ideology today, particularly in Ukraine, Poland and other
NATO-oriented Eastern European nations where fascism has been
resurrected to once again battle the Russian people.

Here's
7 reasons why “If you’ve done nothing wrong, you’ve got nothing to
hide” is the wrong response to government mass surveillance – with
thanks to Jake and lots of other Facebook supporters who left us these
comments! http://amn.st/6183AyBP

Family members of some of the 43 students missing in the Mexican
state of Guerrero have traveled across the United States in caravans,
calling for President Obama to stop funding the Mexican drug war. After
the caravans converged in New York City, the relatives marched to the
United Nations Sunday to mark seven months since their loved ones
disappeared. The Mexican government has said the students were attacked
by municipal police operating under the orders of Iguala Mayor José Luis
Abarca, then turned over to drug gang members, who killed and
incinerated them. But only one of the 43 students’ remains have been
identified, and the parents continue to believe their children are
alive. Last week, ahead of Sunday’s march, we were joined in our New
York City studio by relatives of three of the missing students: María de
Jesús Tlatempa Bello, mother of José Eduardo Bartolo Tlatempa; Clemente
Rodríguez Moreno, father of Christian Alfonso Rodríguez Telumbre; and
Cruz Bautista Salbador, uncle of Benjamín Ascencio Bautista. Special
thanks to Alex Franco for translating.

Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside Indonesian embassies in London, Paris and other cities today to call for an end to West Papua’s 50 years of isolation.

Supporters of Tapol, Amnesty International, Free West Papua Campaign
and Survival International, the global movement for tribal peoples’
rights, wore black to protest the media black-out in Papua, and carried
placards brandishing slogans such as “Stop the killings, open Papua”.

Further protests were held around the world, including in West Papua, Australia, the U.S., Spain and Italy.

"There's a difference between frustration with the law and direct assaults upon our legal system."

- George Bush Snr., May 3rd, 1992.

The first rocks started to fly as the four LAPD officers who beat
Rodney King and the jury who acquitted them were leaving the courtroom
in suburban Simi Valley. Subsequent to the acquittal, on the afternoon
of April 29th 1992, thousands of people began pouring into the streets
of Los Angeles. In a few hours rioting spread across the LA metropolitan
area. Conditions rapidly approached the level of civil war. The police
withdrew from the main areas of fighting, ceding the streets to the
insurgent poor. Systematic burnings of capitalist enterprises commenced.
More than 5,500 buildings burned. People shot at cops on the street and
at media and police helicopters. Seventeen government buildings were
destroyed.

The Los Angeles Times was attacked and looted. A vast canopy of smoke
from the buildings covered the LA Basin. Flights out of LA airport were
cancelled and incoming flights had to be diverted due to the smoke and
sniper fire.

The rioting was the single most violent episode of social unrest in
the US in the twentieth century, far outstripping the urban revolts of
the 1960s both in sheer destructiveness and in the fact that the riots
were a multiracial revolt of the poor. In the initial phase of the LA
riots, the police were rapidly overwhelmed and retreated, and the
military did not appear until the rioting had abated.

A brief account of the six days of rioting which
set Los Angeles aflame following the acquittal of four police officers
who were filmed beating black motorist Rodney King

King Salman’s promotion of his nephew Mohammed bin Nayef to the position of crown prince and heir apparent marks a change of direction for Saudi Arabia, raising the possibility that power in the kingdom may be put directly into the hands of the House of Saud’s younger generation for the first time in history. But don’t be fooled into thinking it will bring about a new approach to human rights.

The reshuffle itself is less surprising than its timing, a mere three months since Salman came to the throne. By elevating Mohammed bin Nayef, the king has indicated he is disinclined to undertake badly needed human rights reforms.

Mohammed bin Nayef, 55, has served as Saudi Arabia’s interior minister since 2012. Before that he was the kingdom’s counterterrorism chief. His father, Nayef bin Abdulaziz, was interior minister for more than 36 years, and was feared by many Saudis for his zero tolerance of dissent.

Saudi Arabia's
newly-appointed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef (L) arrives with his
uncle King Salman (R) at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh,
January 27, 2015.

you know.“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they don’t want to hear.” –George Orwell

Everyone likes eating food, except maybe cibophobiacs or method actors from the movie Soylent Green.
But assuming you have a mouth and an anus, and everything in between
functions properly, you probably enjoy the occasional nosh-up. I too am a
connoisseur of countless cuisines. I enjoy nothing more than a steaming
plate of garlic mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus, and a hot, juicy,
mouth-watering slab of… horsemeat!? How in the unholy fuck? What is this, Ikea?

This may seem a mild affront to one’s sensibilities, but it bears
mentioning because, as outlandish as it seems, there is a viscous plot
afoot behind the scenes of how our company-ran food industries are
making the food we all consume. In the past I’ve written about the Military Industrial Complex, Courage, and even Loving Greatly,
but for now, how about I go into a wool-pulled-over-your-eyes shredding
diatribe about what such malevolent food (poison) corporations as
Monsanto don’t want you know.

miércoles, 29 de abril de 2015

City of Chicago offers payouts for police brutality and torture
By George Marlowe
28 April 2015

The City of Chicago recently announced two proposals to try to contain mass outrage against decades of police torture and brutality.

City officials with the backing of Mayor Rahm Emanuel recently announced that an absurdly small $5.5 million reparations fund will be set up for victims of the torture that occurred for more than two decades under former police commander Jon Burge. Burge’s actions had the full sanction of the Democratic Party establishment in control of Chicago and the Cook County area.

Additionally, a permanent memorial to the victims will be built, the city will issue a formal apology, and eighth and tenth grade students in Chicago Public Schools will be taught about the Burge case.

From 1972 to 1991, Burge and his team of detectives used torture to coerce victims and suspects into confessions for violent crimes on the South Side of the city. Cook County prosecutors and criminal court judges repeatedly ignored reports of torture. Burge, who still receives a police pension, was convicted of perjury in a federal court for lying under oath about the torture and was sentenced to four and a half years in prison. He was released last October and currently resides in Tampa, Florida.

Just as Karl Marx claimed that History had chosen the proletariat, neoconservatives claim that History has chosen America. Just as the Nazis proclaimed “Deutschland uber alles,” neoconservatives proclaim “America uber alles.” In September 2013 President Obama actually stood before the United Nations and declared, “I believe America is exceptional.”

Germany’s political leaders and those in Great Britain, France, and throughout Europe, Canada, Australia, and Japan also believe that America is exceptional, which means better than they are. That’s why these countries are Washington’s vassals. They accept their inferiority to the Exceptional Country — the USA — and follow its leadership.

It is unlikely that the Chinese think that a handful of White People are exceptional in anything except their diminutive numbers. The populations of Asia, Africa, and South America dwarf those that comprise Washington’s Empire.

Neither do the Russians believe that the US is exceptional. Putin’s response to Obama’s claim of American superiority was: “God created us equal.” Putin added: “It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation.”

If all countries are exceptional, the word loses its meaning. If America is exceptional, it means others are inferior for lacking this designation. Inferiors have less rights and can be bullied into submission or bombed into oblivion.

Black Gold follows an Ethiopian coffee producer's epic journey around the world as he attempts to get a fair price for his high quality coffee. The film highlights that the solution for Africa is in equitable TRADE and NOT AID.

William Binney, a legendary NSA mathematician developed the revolutionary logic and architecture that is now used to spy on everybody in the world. When the NSA decided to use his programs on US citizens he became one of the biggest whistleblowers in the history of the NSA. He started the debate and the avalanche of understanding in regards to illegal surveillance, and is revealing inside knowledge on some of the biggest government secrets to date.

The European Union members states are trying to look as if they are doing something serious to care for the poor, catastrophe-stricken people who flee from war zones to Europe under the most risky and inhuman conditions. Apart from the lack of genuine humanism and compassion and the cynical intention to uphold the ”deterrence” factor – other features surround these tragic events.

In various media reports and political statements the word ”refugee” is increasingly being replaced by ”migrant” – hardly just a coincidence given the fact that the number of refugees, internally displaced persons and asylum-seekers passed 50 million fellow human beings worldwide last year.

The PDU is co-hosting a panel on the success of social movements in
the regions at this year’s European Congress of Local Governments in
Kraków in Poland.The Congress which is held under the theme of “Europe
of Regions – Starting A New Chapter” will feature more than 60 different
events, speeches and panels under the topics of Finance, Economy,
Society and the Environment. The panel organised by the PDU will be
chaired by Daniel Schade, the PDU’s Deputy Chairman and Head of London
Office. For more details, visit www.democraticunion.eu -

The Western media has created a fictional account of events in Ukraine.
The coup organized by the Obama regime that overthrew the elected
democratic government in Ukraine is never mentioned. The militias decked
out in Nazi symbols are ignored. These militias are the principle
source of the violence that has been inflicted on the Russian
populations, resulting in the formation of the break-away republics.
Instead of reporting this fact, the corrupt Western media delivers
Washington’s propaganda that Russia has invaded and is annexing eastern
and southern Ukraine. British and European politicians parrot
Washington’s lies.

The Western media is complicit in many war
crimes covered up with lies, but the false story that the Western media
has woven of Ukraine is the most audacious collection of lies yet.
Truly, truth in the Western world has been murdered. There is no respect
for truth in any Western capital.

“The Turkish state is pro-bosses, it just wants them to make profit,” argues Aynur Aydemir, one of the members of the Özgür Kazova
cooperative. “Therefore it would never agree upon a workers’
cooperative of production. They want slaves, new slaves, young slaves.
That’s why they promote the women to sit at home and to have three,
four, five children so that they will have new slaves for the bosses.”

Accidents, killings, massacres: Turkish labor unions are
helpless as thousands of workers die every year, while their bosses are
shielded by the state.

There is no let-up in the United States supported Saudi Arabian and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) war against Yemen. As the death toll mounts, Riyadh and its allies representing the ousted government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi have rejected efforts aimed at declaring a ceasefire and re-opening political dialogue among the various political forces in the country.

Former President Ali Abdullah Saleh urged the various groups involved in the struggle for political power to accept the United Nations proposals requesting the withdrawal from territories contested in the fighting. Saleh still maintains influence in Yemen through his General People’s Congress which was the subject of massive protests during 2011.

Saleh left office in a transitional agreement that was designed to pave the way for a more inclusive government. However, the problems of the country could not be fully resolved with U.S. and Saudi interventions aimed at maintaining western influence in this underdeveloped state.

US citizens constitute 5 percent of the world’s population but consume 24 percent of global energy. On average, one person in the US consumes as much energy as two Japanese, six Mexicans, 13 Chinese, 31 Indians, 128 Bangladeshis, 307 Tanzanians and 370 Ethiopians.

The US is able to consume at such a level because the dollar serves
as the world reserve currency. This means high demand for it is
guaranteed as most international trade (especially oil) is carried out
using the dollar. US dominance and wealth accumulation depends on
maintaining the currency’s leading role.

The international monetary system that emerged near the end of the
Second World War was based on the US being the dominant economic power
and the main creditor nation, with institutions like the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund eventually being created to serve its
interests. Since coming off the gold standard in the early seventies,
Washington has been able to run up a huge balance of payments deficit by
using the (oil-backed) paper dollar as security in itself (rather than
outright ownership of gold) and engaging in petro-dollar recycling and treasury-bond super-imperialism.

Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed (The Real Reason For The Forty-Hour Workweek)

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Well I’m in the working world again. I’ve found myself a well-paying gig in the engineering industry, and life finally feels like it’s returning to normal after my nine months of traveling.

Because I had been living quite a different lifestyle while I was away, this sudden transition to 9-to-5 existence has exposed something about it that I overlooked before.

Since the moment I was offered the job, I’ve been markedly more careless with my money. Not stupid, just a little quick to pull out my wallet. As a small example, I’m buying expensive coffees again, even though they aren’t nearly as good as New Zealand’s exceptional flat whites, and I don’t get to savor the experience of drinking them on a sunny café patio. When I was away these purchases were less off-handed, and I enjoyed them more.

I’m not talking about big, extravagant purchases. I’m talking about small-scale, casual, promiscuous spending on stuff that doesn’t really add a whole lot to my life. And I won’t actually get paid for another two weeks.

In hindsight I think I’ve always done this when I’ve been well-employed — spending happily during the “flush times.” Having spent nine months living a no-income backpacking lifestyle, I can’t help but be a little more aware of this phenomenon as it happens.